THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, July 4, 1995 TAG: 9507040375
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PHILIP WALZER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 55 lines
Two local colleges each have received $250,000 grants from area foundations.
Norfolk State University won a grant from the Parsons Foundation of Norfolk to expand its honors program. The money will be distributed over five years.
Virginia Wesleyan College's grant, which will go into the school's $25 million capital campaign over five years, comes from the Norfolk Foundation.
About 60 NSU students are enrolled each semester in a handful of for-credit honors classes and seminars in subjects ranging from English to the South.
The money ``will help us solidify the existing program and offer more to students,'' said Page R. Laws, an associate professor of English who directs the program. ``It's really going to help raise the visibility of the program so more students are going to be aware that the option exists.''
The grant, Laws said, will be used to increase student enrollment, train professors, send students to conferences where they can offer research papers, and sponsor more extracurricular activities, such as outings to the Virginia Stage Company or Virginia Opera.
To get into the honors program, students generally must have had a 3.0 - or B - grade point average in high school and must maintain a 3.5 at Norfolk State.
Laws said the grant ``benefits the whole university, not simply the students with high GPAs. The idea is to promote excellence throughout the university.''
Virginia Wesleyan hopes to double its endowment, finance dozens more scholarships and build a new academic building and soccer stadium with the $25 million capital campaign. The college has raised more than $9.5 million in its campaign, said James R. Bergdoll, vice president for college relations and planning.
``This, of course, is very significant,'' Bergdoll said of the gift. ``The Norfolk Foundation has helped us on several occasions since 1966, and once again the foundation has made a substantial gift to Virginia Wesleyan.''
The college ``continues to be a growing, thriving asset to the community, and we decided to make a very large commitment,'' said Lee Kitchin, executive director of the Norfolk Foundation.
The foundation awarded three other grants last month:
$60,000 to Norfolk Collegiate School to expand the number of computers at the school's two campuses.
$30,000 to the Planning Council's Homeless Prevention Program. The program helps families in Chesapeake, Norfolk and Portsmouth that are facing eviction because of lost employment or another emergency.
$25,000 to Imagination Island, a community playground planned for Northside Park in Norfolk. by CNB